YouTube drops paywall from some Originals, explores advertising

December 03, 2018 / Robin Kurzer

The details are still being worked out, but in the short term, some of the programs will remain subscription-based while some will become ad-supported. That means potential advertiser opportunities in the form of sponsorships or new ad inventory against the ad-supported Originals. We’ve learned that new sponsorship opportunities and new inventory that may become available in Google Preferred are some of the options currently on the table. Google Preferred is an advertising program that lets marketers buy ads upfront on YouTube’s top-performing channels. A YouTube spokesperson said, “As we look to 2019, we will continue to invest in scripted programming and shift to make our YouTube Originals ad-supported to meet the growing demand of a more global fanbase.